Known as the 'village of portals', Simala is a small hamlet of medieval origin located in Campidano di Oristano in the Parte Montis region. It currently has just over 300 inhabitants.
The main core of the ancient settlement where the main roads intersect remains more or less intact, at the centre of which the parish church was built...
The winding roads, once paved or cobbled, mark out areas made up of courtyard houses with their characteristic high walls, interrupted only by a single entrance, the portal.
Strolling along the streets of the historic centre, around sixty walled residences are encountered, often enclosing large private courtyards. Originally, the portals only served as access for ox carts and only took on their decorative appearance in the second half of the nineteenth century as a way of displaying the owner's rank in society.
Most of Simala’s portals were built using the archivolt system which, compared to the more archaic architrave, required greater care over the construction, which involved the centring and shaping of the stones. Almost all the portals were entrusted to the labour and creativity of the stonemasons, who were well aware of the characteristics and poor malleability of the raw material they used, but knew how to cut it and work it to produce the required blocks. This portal was probably built in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was made entirely of stone ashlars in square, slightly trapezoidal blocks and the arch was completed with the so-called keystone.
